Is Blue Moon the biggest craft beer in America? That’s the idea put forth by Tom Long, president and chief commercial officer, of MillerCoors today.
Speaking to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Long said, “We have the biggest craft brand in America with Blue Moon and another one in the top five with Leinenkugel’s.”
Previously the company reported that second-quarter sales of Blue Moon and Leinenkugel’s saw double-digit growth amid flat or declining profits from Miller Lite and Coors Light. These sales figures are what have led MillerCoors to expand into the craft-beer market with Tenth and Blake.
In 2009, shipments of craft beers rose 4 percent to 4.3 percent, with companies like the Craft Brewers Alliance, which produces Redhook beer, and the Boston Beer Co., seller of Sam Adams, leading the charge of the craft-beer brigade.
So, it’s perhaps more accurate to say that Blue Moon is the biggest craft beer produced by MillerCoors and anything else is hyperbolic marketing speak.
One last thought. The most salient point made by Long was in regards to producing new products. “There are a lot of consumers out there that are serial triers,” he says to the Journal Sentinel. “So, in light beers, we have to use new packaging.”
Which is to say, it’s not what’s in the bottle that matters but just the bottle itself, thus spake Vortexathustra.
Filed under: news, 10th and blake, boston beer co., craft brewers alliance, marketing babble, millercoors, redhook, sam adams, vortex bottle
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